Written and Directed by Stella Meghie
*** (three stars)
RATED PG 13
My first film screening of this new year, and therefore, this new decade in cinema resulted in a response that was rather muted for me. Not every film can be that grand slam, but not all good but not great and near misses are devoid of value.
At this time, I turn my attention to Writer/Director Stella Meghie's "The Photograph," an elegant, soulful, dual and inter-generational love story that succeeds on multi-levels but does falter due to a lack of inherent momentum and a tendency to lean towards cliches of the movie romance genre. That being said, the film exists like a fine glass of wine as it shimmers and glistens but perhaps it could have used a little more heat and romantic urgency.
"The Photograph" stars the magnetic and malleable Lakeith Stanfield as Michael Block, an up and coming journalist who dreams of one day joining the ranks at the Associated Press. While on an assignment to research and write a magazine piece about the famous, and now deceased, photographer Christina Eames (Chante Adams), Michael meets the photographer's estranged daughter Mae Morton (Issa Rae), a museum curator, whose discovery of her Mother's photography--including one specific photograph of her Mother--plus two letters written by her Mother, one addressed to her and another addressed to her Father, whom she left behind to pursue her career dreams.
As Michael and Mae find themselves in the throes of a deep attraction towards each other, possibly building into love itself, we also learn the backstory of Christina Eames and how her actions in late 1980's Louisiana have reverberated through time to affect Mae, who is confronted by questions and fears that perhaps, her own life may be fated to follow a similar path, a path that sacrifices the potential for true love.
Stella Meghie's "The Photograph" is a smart, sophisticated, and sultry romantic drama that thankfully presents and treats adults behaving like recognizable adults in a very real world asking tough questions of themselves as well as each other as they each pursue what it means to love and be loved. It is classy slice-of-life film that possesses no villains, no hyperbole, no prefabricated plot twists or anything that feels inauthentic to the experience as a whole.
While working beautifully with Cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard's lush visuals, Meghie knows precisely the mood she is attempting to conjure which feels to be of the very type and tenor that one feels when listening to adult soul and R&B songs, the very kind that just happen to luxuriously populate the film's soundtrack directly alongside Composer Robert Glasper's atmospheric jazz score. All of these aesthetics and more all contribute to elevate "The Photograph" from some of its movie love story genre elements and trappings, thus establishing its own sense of character. But even so, Meghie is not quite successful on this front, as her sense of pacing is a tad drowsy and the predictable nature of the beats contained within the romantic drama genre do indeed rob the film of some of its romantic tension as you will easily know exactly where this film is headed, provided you have seen movie love stories before.
This is why casting is as crucial as the actual screenwriting and storytelling because with all of the correct ingredients, a filmmaker is able to take the most mundane and over-utilized pieces and spin gold. While Stella Meghie does not fly that high, she did indeed populate her film with a first rate cast that upon further rumination may be even better than I originally thought while watching.
Lakeith Stanfield remains one of the most interesting and compelling young actors on the current scene as his versatility and ease allow him to superbly slide into every role given to him like a tailor made glove. As Michael Block, Stanfield again showcases his range with subtlety, charm, strength and a welcome amount of sensitivity, making him a romantic hero we only root for. Michael is indeed the 21st century Romeo, the almost poetic figure who is in love with being in love despite any and all romantic failings of his past. The root of his desire is within the wish that there will be someone out in the world for him and it is through that innocence that he becomes increasingly endearing over the course of the film.
As the famed and mysteries photographer Christina Eames, Chante Adams delivers the film's most mesmerizing performance as well as the one that contained the greatest depth of sorrow, remorse, determination, as well as a feminist strength and resolve to not solely live her life, but to create her life upon her own terms and without answering to anyone else while also conveying the romantic pain and existential guilt from turning her back upon the man she loved and the daughter she has become estranged from.
As Mae Morton, the performance of Issa Rae has just now begun to reveal itself to me, making me wonder if it was more skilled of a performance than I am giving it credit for. While watching the film, I distinctly felt that while Rae unquestionably possessed screen presence, there was something rather one-note to her performance that belied the complexities of her character who is facing herself in ways she had not previously accomplished.
The anger and hurt of Mae Morton and her reluctance to defy her better nature and take that leap of faith with Michael does not exist through any sense of facile "will they-won't they" tactics that would truly be uninteresting. What Mae Morton is confronting is her own sense of self and how her life choices may or may not be mirroring her Mother's life choices, and in doing so, is she fated to just be as emotionally distant. To be creatively fulfilled yet romantically empty or can she possess both or is she doomed to neither is the quandary of this character and as I think of Issa Rae's performance now, I am finding myself feeling that that her somewhat static nature was purposeful, that she is playing a character who is intentionally holding herself at bay out of a self-preservation that is in conflict with her truest desires and needs.
Issa Rae's chemistry with Lakeith Stanfield is exquisitely palpable, showcasing a romantic relationship, while predictable, always felt real and true and representative of life and how it is really lived, especially 21st century African-American life.
To me, the presentation of Black life in America is the greatest accomplishment of Stella Maghie's "The Photograph," as not only representation matters but so do Black lives. The film is downright remarkable in the sense that we have a a mainstream film in which Black characters are not slaves, criminals, secondary characters or solely existing as victims or being killed.
The characters of "The Photograph" are Black people simply getting up each day to live their lives just as White characters perform in every other movie. These characters are Black people with careers, with families, with children, hopes, foibles and fears just like White characters are presented in every other movie. And to that end, "The Photograph," which does feel like a close cousin to both Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues" (1990) and Theodore Witcher's "love jones" (1997), feels like a quietly revolutionary act due to the rarity of the presentation and exposure...and just for that, feel the film is to be celebrated for even existing let alone for being good.
Stella Meghie's "The Photograph" in essence feels like the just right way to begin this next journey through the world of the movies. No, it is not a grand slam by any means. But it is a good film, strong enough to keep us hopefully for the movies to come, especially Meghie's next project.
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